Dreams Within
by Vegeta's lil' Princess
Summary: *The End! Will Bra marry Goten? Or go back to 17?* Princess Bra decides to runaway when her parents make her marry Goten. The King then hires the best Bounty Hunter on the planet to bring the princess home.
1. Trapped Princess

            Dreams Within

            "Free the dream within. The stars are crying. A tear, a sigh escapes from heaven and worlds end." Princess Bra sang staring up at the midnight sky from her balcony overlooking the entire Saiyan Kingdom.

            "Be the dream within. The mystifying. We fight and sing. Traped within. Look beyond were hearts can sing. Dream in peace. Trust love believe." Bra kept singing.

            The young princess eyes began watering up as she sang her sad song. The lyrics about dreaming of freedom came from her trapped heart. All her life she had been a prison behind the castles wall. She knew she was the princess therefore she must be protected but an event when she was a baby hand caused her parents to take their protectiveness to another level.

            Princess Bra had overheard her brother talking to a friend why their parents were so over protective of her. The story was that when she was a baby one of the greedy noble in the land plotted to kidnap the baby princess and threaten to kill her if the king did not give up his throne to him. Fortunately the royal guards found out about the intended kidnapping and arrested the noble before he could kidnap the princess but the close call frighten the queen that she insisted her daughter not be allowed to leave the castle ever. 

            King Vegeta agreed fearing the safety of his precious little girl. And so it was that a wall was built around the castle separating it and the princess from the rest of the world. When she was little Princess Bra didn't mind. Why should she? She had no idea there was another world beyond the castle's wall, until she began reading. One day after spending the day with her mother the princess wondered off to a new wing of the castle she had never been to before. There she found a room full of books. Not boring history books she was made to read by her royal tutor that taught her how to be a princess and rule the planet if anything would to happen to her family. These books were adventure books, mystery books, fantasy books, books that described a magical land Princess Bra had never heard about.

            Full of excitement of her new discovery the young princess ran to find her parents and tell them all about the worlds she had read about in the books thinking they did not know about them. Her parents were shocked and denied that there was such a world. The princess was disappointed, but believed her parents for she was so young she believed everything her parents said we true because they knew everything in her mind. To get her daughter's mind off what she had read Queen Bulma hired the best music instructors on the planet to teach her how to play the piano, violin, and the harp. 

Princess Bra soon forgot about what she had read and devoted her time to her music, which she loved with all her heart. She also began singing, but she didn't need a teacher for that. The princess had a beautiful and power voice. However, the memories of what she had read that day when she was five years old came back to her as she got older and started writing her own songs. Being a smart girl it didn't take her long to realize that there was indeed a world out there past the castle's wall. When she confronted her parents they simply told her the other world forbidden. That it was dangerous and she would never be allowed to go there.

This news broke her heart, but there was nothing she could do. Except sneak into the library late at night and read about the world. She would dream about what it would be like to actually leave the castle. She would take the visions in her dream and write them into her songs.  

            "Free the dream within. The voices calling. A song, a prayer from deep inside you to guide you. Be the dream within. The light is shinnying. A flame on the wind. Salvation begins. Look beyond where hearts can sing." Bra finished on a sad note……

"Bra?" Queen Bulma knocked gentle on her daughter's door.

"Come in mother." Princess Bra answered quietly walking back into her room and sitting on her bed.

"We need to talk." The queen said in a nice voice sitting next to her daughter.

"About?" Bra asked looking at her mother.

"Well you're 18th birthday is coming up and that means you will marry you're betrothed Goten of the Son family." The Queen informed Bra.

"No! Never! Never! Never! Never!" Princess Bra screamed throwing the brush she was using to brush her long hair at her vanity mirror shattering it into pieces.

            "The arrangements have already been made." Queen Bulma stated trying to calm down her teenaged daughter.

            "DADDY!" Princess Bra screamed getting up and running out of her room straight to the throne room where the King was.

            "Bra! Stop!" Queen Bulma order running after the furious princess.

            "Daddy!" Bra called running into the throne room interrupting an important royal meeting.

            "What's wrong princess?" King Vegeta asked concerned as his baby girl ran and hugged him.

            "Mom's trying to marry me off to Goten!" Bra explained to her father.

            "Tell her she can't!" Bra demanded excepting her dad to say his usual "Of course my lil princess, anything for you" but to her shocked the king stayed quite.

            "Omg. You're in on this." Bra realized stepping away from her father.

Authors Note- Is Vegeta really part of Bra's arranged marriage or will he save his little princess from marrying Goten?


	2. Plans to Escape

"I'm sorry princess but the law of this planet states it's princess must be married before her 18th birthday." King Vegeta said trying to be reasonable.

            "I don't care about stupid laws! Or this stupid kingdom as a matter of fact!" Bra fumed storming off pushing past her mother and out the room leaving behind a stunned royal court. King Vegeta couldn't help feeling guilty. He hated seeing his precious little princess so upset. 

"I told you she wasn't going to go along with this so easily." King Vegeta said to Queen Bulma.

"The law is the law. She's going to have to get used to the idea. The wedding will be in two weeks." Queen Bulma said a matter of factly. She knew her daughter could be as stubborn as her father, but there was no way out of this. Princess Bra would marry Goten Son in two short weeks and that was that. 

Bra was running down the hall of the royal wing her mind racing a million miles per hour. She felt so betrayed. How could her father be part of such a horrible arrangement? It was bad enough she had been locked up in the castle her whole life now she also had to marry by force? Bra was too shocked and angry she didn't notice the person walking towards her and crashed right into them. 

            "Why in such a hurry baby sister?" Trunks asked in a mocking tone.

            "Out of my way Trunks! I'm not a happy lil princess!" Bra pushed Trunks aside.

            "Awww! Hurrying to greet your future husband when he arrives?" Trunks teased making Bra snap.

            "You knew about this?" Bra asked in disbelief.

            "Of course. If you would have paid attention in our royal history class instead of writing who knows what in you little book you would have known about this." Trunks said matter of factly.

            "Bite me!" Bra snapped walking off.

            "Tsk tsk! Such language is violation of royal etiquette rule number 515." Trunks laughed.

            "Ah!" Trunks yelped ducking from a book Bra threw at him before leaving.

            "They're not going to force me to marry anyone without a fight." Bra swore storming into her room and slamming the doors behind her.

            "But what can I do?" Bra asked herself out loud. She stayed awake all night trying to answer that question. Some of her ideas were too outrageous and unrealistic. Setting the castle on fire was she decided would be used as a last result. 

            The sun started to rise and the princess still hadn't thought of a plan to get out of her arranged wedding. She slowly got out of bed and walked over to her balcony windows and opened the curtain to let the sun in.

            "I'm so sleepy. I didn't sleep at all last night." Bra yawned as a flash of inspiration hit her.

            "I got it!" Bra exclaimed running out onto the balcony and leaning over looking down at the courtyard below. She had thought of the perfect plan to stop the wedding and escape to the outside world, which she had so longed to see.

Authors Note- What is Bra planning to do to stop the wedding? And more importantly will it work? Find out in the next chapter.


	3. A Change of Heart?

            "Good morning mother, Trunks." Bra cheerily greeted her family in the royal dinning room.

            "Daddy." Bra smiled giving King Vegeta a kiss on the cheek before taking her seat next to her brother.

            "Why are you so happy?" Trunks asked suspiciously.

            "Last night you were so mad you were ready to kill us all in our sleep." Trunks said staring at his little sister trying to figure out what she was up to. Bra simply continued smiling sweetly.

            "Yes what are you up to Bra?" Bulma asked equally curious to know what had changed her daughter's mood.

            "Nothing. I just realized you guys are right. I am the Princess of this kingdom and it is my duty to my people to obey our customs and marry in order to continue our family's legacy." Bra stated in an exaggerated proper voice.

            "I knew it! She is going to kill us all then marry gotten to become queen then murder him in his sleep and rule the planet herself!" Trunks accused fearing for his life.

            "Don't be ridicules boy!" King Vegeta snapped.

            "Bra would never do such a thing." The king added smiling over at his daughter.

            "Oh yea? Then why did she set my bed on fire when I was sleeping in it when she was five?" Trunks countered.

            "She was little. She didn't know what she was doing." Bulma defended.

            "Sure." Trunks scoffed but decided not to push the subject.

            "So I take it your change of heart means you'll want to help with the wedding plans?" Queen Bulma asked hoping for a yes. This was after all her only daughter and she always dreams of throwing her the biggest best wedding in history.

            "Of course mommy!" Bra faked enthusiasm. As much as pretending to be excited about getting married made her sick to her stomach she knew in order for her master plan to work she had to appear to be happy about it.

            For the next two week Bra played the role of the happy bride to be perfectly. She helped with the wedding preparations picking out the flowers, color of the bridesmaid dresses, the menu, the music, Bra was decided every little detail with her mothers help. She had everyone including her family and future husband fooled. No one had any idea what she was plotting……..

            "Tonight's the night." Princess Bra said to herself standing in front of her full length Victorian mirror in her elegant royal purple gown. It was the day of the engagement party. Bra could hear servants and guards running past her room as the guest began arriving.

Queen Bulma had spared no expense for her only daughters engagement party. Nobles from all over the planet where invited to the extravagant banquet being held in Bra and Goten's name.  The wedding ceremony was scheduled for tomorrow evening.

            "Too bad there's not going to be a bride." Bra smirked holding a small bottle in her hands.

Authors Note- What does Bra mean there's not going to be a bride? And what's in her hands?


	4. Engagement Party From Hell

            "Bra?" Queen Bulma knocked at her daughter's door.

            "The guest are all here. Are you ready?" The queen asked.

            "As ready as I'll ever be." Bra took a deep breath before hiding the small crystal bottle in her corset. The princess couldn't help but feel like the walk she was taking down the castle's hall towards the ballroom was like a prisoner walking to his execution.

            "But not my execution." Bra thought smirking as she arrived at the ballroom entrance her mother at her side.

            "Introducing Queen Bulma and Princess Bra!" The guards announced sounding the trumpets. Everyone immediately rose from their seats clapping at their arrivals.

            "Go ahead and cheer for this unfair injustice I'm being forced into." Bra thought smiling down at the people she despised through greeted teeth.

            "Soon you'll all be punished for going along with my pain and suffering." Bra secretly thought as she walked down the stairs along side her mother to the royal table where her family and fiancé awaited……….

            "So tomorrow we're getting married huh?" Goten tried to make conversation as he dance a waltz with his bride to be. It took all of Bra's inner strength not to punch him and curse him out at that very second. The princess managed to simply smile at the naïve young man and continue dancing.

            "Father of the brides turn." King Vegeta said cutting in.

            "Thank god." Bra breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid if she had to continue with the charades and dance with Goten a minute longer she was going to lose it and ruin her plans.

            "You know I'm very proud of how maturely you're handling this Bra." King Vegeta admitted taking his daughter's hand and dancing with her.

            "Well I am the Saiyan Princess daddy. It is my duty to follow our race's traditions and follow its law." Bra lied. She couldn't believe she was lying to her daddy. She had always been able to confine in him her true feelings even when they went against what he believed. Even though he was king and had to follow the laws he still loved his daughter and hated to she her sad. 

            Luckily Bra was a good actress and Vegeta bought her "I'm the princess and must do what a princess has to do" speech and simply nodded in approval. When the waltz finally ended King Vegeta took his daughters arm and escorted her to the royal table to make a toast.

            "Quiet everyone!" King Vegeta ordered tapping his goblet. Everyone in the room instantly stopped talking and stood up to hear the king's speech.

            "First of all I want to thank everyone for coming. As hard as it is for me to give away my little girl I know it's for the kingdom's best." King Vegeta stated lifting his glass of wine.

            "To our princess wedding." King Vegeta proclaimed before taking a drink of his wine.

            "To the princess's wedding!" Everyone repeated with enthusiasm before drinking in a toast.

            "That's right. Drink up everyone. Drink as much as you can. Because the more you drink the faster my plan works." Princess Bra thought lifting her goblet to her lips, but not drinking a single drop………….

            It wasn't long before the effect of Bra's little potion began taking effect on everyone. Almost in unison everyone at the party passed out at their table.

            "Perfect!" Bra exclaimed standing up and taking out the now empty crystal bottle and placing it on the table in from of her seat. Bra laughed at how easily it was to slip the powerful potion into the wine barrels as she walking passed all the lifeless bodies and out the door towards freedom.

Authors Note – Can it be Bra's actually gone evil and killed everyone?


	5. A Clean Get Away

            "Good thing I actually paid attention to my boring teacher the day he took me and Trunks out to the royal garden for our biology lesson." Bra thought as she changed into a peasant looking dress in her room.

 Bra had been easily distracted by a beautiful purple rose looking flower. She remembers her teacher yelling at her not to touch it for it was Royal Teardrop (Tenchi Muyo Jurian Royal Family).

            Young Princess Bra fell in love with the flowers beauty and sad name which she felt described how she felt. She was also drawn to the flower because it possessed some dark powers. Her teacher made the mistake of informing the princess the flower could be used to make a powerful sleeping potion that could put a person to sleep for days.

            Of course the princess had to try out this knew knowledge she had. So that night Bra found a book of herbal remedy's and found the receipt for the sleeping potion. She then slipped the potion into her brothers breakfast juice and laughed when he fell asleep during his training.

            King Vegeta was so mad at him he ground Trunks for a month. However, wanting to get credit for the amazing prank she pulled on her older brother proving she could out smart him she finally confessed what she did. Bra didn't get punished for it because King Vegeta found it humorous, but he did suspend Trunks punishment by orders of Queen Bulma. 

            Bra laughed remembering the fiasco as she threw over her balcony the tied up bed sheets and climbed down the castle wall to her awaiting horse. The princess wrapped the dark fur cap over herself and pulled the hood down low to cover her beautiful face making sure to hide her long hair. Her hair was a dead give away to her identity because it was the same color as the Queen.

            "This is it." Bra thought nervously as she approached the castle gate walking slowly along side her horse.

            "Just a party guest who's feeling unwell and wants to leave the party early to get some rest for the big wedding tomorrow." Bra answered in a low voice coughing for emphasize hoping the guards didn't recognize her voice. The princess felt her heart start pounding when one of the guards leaned in for a closer look. Bra simply looked down avoiding eye contact.

            "You look a little pale. You should take some medicine and rest." The guard suggested before ordering the gate opened and the bridge lowered. 

            "A gift from the party." Bra paused handing the guards of bottle of tainted wine before walking out the gate to freedom.

            "That was to easy." Bra smirked getting on her horse and riding off into the sunset forest at full speed never looking back……………….. 

            "Oh my goodness!" One of the servants gasped early the next morning when she went to the royal ballroom to start cleaning it up for the wedding and found everyone passed out.

            "Your majesty! Your majesty are you alright?" Another servant asked shaking the king gently.

            "Huh?" King Vegeta mumbled as he woke up slowly.

            "What the hell is going on?!" Vegeta demanded looking around the room as the servants tried to wake everyone up.

            "Where's Bra?" Bulma asked noticing her daughter's absence.

            "You don't think she…." King Vegeta assumed the worse.

            "Prince Trunks." A servant was still trying to wake up the sleeping prince.

            "No mommy I don't wanna wake up. Five more minutes." Trunks whined half asleep.

            "Boy! Get up now!" King Vegeta growled dragging his son up by his collar.

            "Huh? What?" Trunks mumbled still not fully awake.

            "Where is your sister?!" Vegeta demanded immediately blaming Trunks for her disappearance.

            "I don't know! I just woke up! How can I be in trouble all ready?" Trunks protested as he fell back into his chair once the queen manage to pull Vegeta off him.

            "Man I haven't felt this tired since Bra used that stupid sleeping potion to get me in trouble." Trunks complained rubbing his eyes and yawning. 

            "What did you say?" Vegeta wanted to make sure he had heard right.

            "Remember? She put sleeping potion in my drink so I'd fall asleep during training and you'd ground me forever." Trunks managed to explain before falling back asleep.

King Vegeta restrained himself from blasting his son. Bulma watched as he analyzed his goblet.

"Well?" The queen asked anxious.

"I always knew my daughter was a cleaver one." King Vegeta confirmed everyone's suspicions of the sleeping potion.

"Vegeta! We're supposed to be mad at her! Not proud of her!" The queen scolded.

"Fine." King Vegeta agreed setting back down the tainted goblet.

"We have to find her! We have to tell everyone in the kingdom she's missing and to look for her! We'll send the entire army to rescue her!" Queen Bulma pleaded.

"No!" King Vegeta stated firmly.

"Why not? It's dangerous out there! She can be killed!" Bulma argued.

"That is exactly why no one can know she's missing." Vegeta countered talking nonsense in the queen's opinion.

"There are many treacherous people out there that would love to find her only to kidnap her in order to demand a ransomed." King Vegeta continued starting to make sense.

"No. No one can know about this." He concluded.

"Then how are we going to get her back?" Queen Bulma asked.

"Easily." Vegeta answered confidently in his plan.

"We're going to hire the best bounty hunter in the land." King Vegeta stated. 

Authors Note- If you've read any of my other fics then you know who the Bounty Hunter's going to be, but I'll give a cookie (sneak peak of the next few chapters) to anyone that guesses right.


	6. Bounty Hunter for Hire

            "Whoa Firestar!" Bra commanded pulling back on her horse's reins halting it to a stop in front of a bridge.

            "Interesting." Bra thought has she dismounted her horse and walking over to investigate the narrow unstable looking robe bridge. The cold night wind was blowing the bridge violently. Crossing it wasn't a safe idea.

            "But it's the only way to cross this canyon for miles." Bra said out loud convincing her she had to cross it. She led her black stallion slowly across the rickety bridge careful not to step on any rotting wooden steps. The Princess held the hood of her fur cape low over her head as a way to keep herself from looking down at the raging white water rapid river hundreds of feet below.

            "Without a bridge the royal army will have to travel another days worth of travel to follow me." Bra smirked taking out her dagger and cutting the bridge's main ropes. She watched in triumphed as the bridge broke lose and swung to the other side of the canyon and hung from the other side of the cliff uselessly. 

            Princess Bra climbed back on her horse and galloped away towards the next town satisfied knowing no one was going to be using that bridge for a very long time…….

            "Father the Bounty Hunter is here." Trunks announced walking into his father training quarters.

            "Good. I'll meet him in the council chambers." King Vegeta dismissed his son who returned to deliver the message to the bounty hunter.

            "The King will meet with you in his council chambers. I'll take you there." Prince Trunks told the young bounty hunter who nodded and followed. When they arrived King Vegeta was already seated at his desk.

            "You can leave now boy." Vegeta told Trunks who obeyed and left closing the door behind him leaving his father to speak with the bounty hunter.

            "So you are bounty hunter 17?" King Vegeta asked uncertain of the young man's identity. He didn't look like a bounty hunter, he appeared to be the same age as his children.

            "The one and only." 17 answered confidently, too confidently for the king.

            "How can I be certain you are telling the truth? You don't look like someone who would hold the title of best bounty hunter in the land." King Vegeta challenged looking over the simply dressed man with long black hair.

            "You look more like a stable boy." King Vegeta insulted when 17 did not respond to his questions.

            "Then you won't feel guilty when a low life bandit finds the princess and unaware she is the princess because the royal family has not announced she has runaway kills her?" 17 stated no emotions in his tone of voice whatsoever. 

            "How dare you!" King Vegeta demanded outraged.

            "I can have you executed for such defiance!" King Vegeta warned.

            "But you won't." 17 stated a fact.

            "You know for the right price I will do exactly what you want, bring home the princess safe and sound." 17 spoke the truth.

            "55 million." King Vegeta offered.

            "Half up front and half upon the princess return." 17 accepted the amount and expressed his terms for payment.

            "10 million up front." King Vegeta rejected 17's original terms.

            "15 million." 17 bargained.

            "Fine, but she has to be back home in two weeks or less." King Vegeta accepted but not without a set condition.

            "Deal." 17 agreed thinking that was more the plenty of time because he thought the princess couldn't have gotten very far. 

            Contrary to this belief Princess Bra had indeed gotten very far. Farther than any other traveler could have gone by riding nonstop all night and resting for a couple hours of sleep during the day at a town inn. She not only covered more land this way, but she decreased the chances of being recognized if she slept during the day and traveled by night. She knew traveling during the night was more dangerous, but so far she had not run into any problems. Unfortunately that was all about to change. 

Authors Note- 17 is the bounty hunter Vegeta hired. Will he find the princess in time? And what will happen when he finds her? Love at first site?


	7. Stalker

            "Looks like this bridge's been sabotaged." 17 thought standing at the edge of the cliff where the bridge was connected.

            "This is obviously the work of an amateur." 17 commented looking down at the wood bridge hanging down the side of the cliff. A professions criminal running from the law would have known better. They would have burned the bridge in order to not leave behind any evidence that they had been there. 

            "Silly Princess." 17 laughed shaking his head in amusement.

            "You thought by cutting the bridge you'd delay my search for you, but instead you've left me a clue to where you're headed." 17 said picking up his bag and walked off to find the fastest alternative across the canyon…..

            "Are you certain he'll find her and bring her safe and sound?" Queen Bulma asked Vegeta.

            "I checked his background and he is the best bounty hunter in the land. He's never failed any of his missions." King Vegeta answered.

            "I don't think I trust him. I still think we should have the royal army go after her and let the kingdom know of her disappearance. Maybe someone will find her and bring her back." Bulma argued trying to change the king's mind.

            "No." King Vegeta stated sternly.

            "It's too dangerous. I have many enemies out there that would love to get their hands on Bra in order to use her against me. I can't risk her life like that." King Vegeta explained with worry in his voice.

            "No on outside this castle can know Bra's runaway." King Vegeta stated unaware that someone within the castle had every intent of using the knowledge of the princess disappearance to their own advantage. 

            "Finally." Bra breathed a sigh of relief as she rode into a quiet little town in the middle of nowhere.  She stopped at the local item shop (rpg games) to buy some supplies before heading over to the town's inn.

            The out of placed princess kept her hand next to her dagger as she noticed a group of rowdy looking men staring at her the moment she walked in. Bra ignored their gawking and unwanted whispering and walked up to the registration desk.

            "A room." Bra told the inn owner more than asked.

            "Will you be leaving in the morning or staying longer?" The young man asked politely.

            "I'll be leaving tonight." Bra answered impenitently.

            "Are you traveling alone?" The inn keeper asked noticing the girl's nervousness.

            "I don't see how that's any of your business." Bra snapped without realizing she sounded a little too much like a royal. Luckily the inn keeper was to concern with the notion of a solo female traveler to notice the princess tone of voice.

            "It is my business to oversee the safety of my guests. And it is not safe for a young girl to be traveling by night." The innkeeper responded in a calm cool voice.

            "Don't tell me what I can and can not do!" Bra countered losing her temper and raising her voice.

            "You have no idea who you're dealing with." Bra warned.

            "Oh but I do." A low intense voice said from behind her. Bra quickly turned around ready to slap whoever had been eavesdropping on her conversation.

            "Princess." The stalker whispered to her.

Authors Note – Has 17 finally caught up to Bra or is it someone else? Maybe the person from the castle that's planning to use Bra to become king?


	8. Hate at First Sight

            "Don't even think about screaming and trying to make a scene because I'll expose you right here and now." The stranger whispered menacingly grabbing Bra's arm tightly and pulling her outside roughly.

            "Unhand me barbarian!" Bra ordered once they were away from everyone.

            "Temper temper princess." Bra's captor shook his finger at her.

             "Stop calling me that! I don't know what you're talking about!" Bra hissed trying to keep her cool.

            "Oh really?" The kidnapper smirked pulling off her hood revealing her unmistakable face and hair. No one outside the castle had ever seen Princess Bra, but they had seen Queen Bulma and knew the princess was practically a younger clone of the queen. 

            The girl standing in front of him defiantly resembled the queen. Same color hair, same colored eyes, but there was something different about her. He didn't know what it was, but there was something fiery about this princess.

            "Ouff!" 17 gasped as Bra punched him in the gut knocking the wind out of him.

            "Feisty." 17 thought watching the princess try to get away while he was recovering.

            "You know princesses are suppose to be well mannered not violent." 17 said easily catching up to Bra and blocking her way.

            "I'm not the princess! Stop calling me that!" Bra fumed dodging to either side trying to get past the young man.

            "Don't try that innocent act with me. I'm not great 17, the number one bounty hunter in the land for nothing." 17 informed getting the princess to stop trying to get away.

"I mean even an amateur could see right through your disguise. What did you think by cutting your hair a little shorter you'd be able to fool everyone? You still look like the queens daughter and act like a royal." 17 laughed. 

            "I can not believe my father has offered a reward on me! I'm not some common criminal he can set his army after!" Bra exclaimed in anger.

            "He didn't. He hired me and only me to find you because I'm the best in the business." 17 explained failing to make Bra feel any better.

            "Well the would explain why I haven't heard anyone talking about my disappearance. I mean the princess running away should be the biggest news ever." Bra went off forgetting she was talking to her paid captor.

            "Wait ew! I'm not going home!" Bra came to her sense and stood her ground.

"You don't have a choice." 17 smirked pulling out some rope and tying Bra's hands together.

"Hey! Stop that! I'm still you're princess!" Bra struggled.

"Wrong.  You're my mission's target and ticket to the rest of my reward." 17 corrected finishing tying her up.

"I order that you release me at once!" Bra stomped her foot in a fit.

"I'll be happy to release you." 17 faked a smile, causing Bra to calm down.

"Finally he's realized who he's dealing with." Bra thought he was going to let her go, but that didn't happen.

"Hey! Get you're filthy hands off me!" Bra screamed when 17 put his hands on her waist and lifted her up onto her horse.

            "I suggest you stop screaming or I'll be forced to gag you." 17 warned grabbing Bra's horse reins and leading it towards the forest.

            "You do and I'll have you tortured and hanged! Just wait until I tell my father of your mistreatment of me! He'll kill you himself!" Bra went off in a rage.

            "This is going to be a long trip." 17 thought bitterly as he began the long journey to take the princess home…..

Authors Note-  Looks like 17's found Bra, but completing his mission isn't going to be easy.


	9. A Time to Kill?

            "Of all the people in the land my father could have hired he hires an arrogant, anti-social outcast to torture me!" Bra whined.

            "Don't you every shut up?" 17 asked trying to drown out her constant complaining.

            "Bite me!" Bra snapped.

            "You can scream all you want. No ones going to come to your rescue." 17 informed hoping that would quiet her down.

            "And how would you know peasant?" Bra insulted.

            "We're deep in the forest. No one travels through here." 17 explained ducking under a low tree branch.

            "Aren't bounty hunters supposed to have great sense of directions? You're going to wrong way idiot!" Bra continued her verbal abuse of 17. 

            "We're taking a different route. One that will take twice as long." 17 ignored the princess insults.

            "But not because I want to spend more time with you princess." 17 added when he saw Bra roll her eyes at his explanation.

            "Enlighten me." Bra challenged.

            "I intend to stay far away from any of the main roads in order to avoid any interference from noisy towns people or travelers." 17 revealed his reasons.

            "As annoying as you are you're still worth a princess's ransom." 17 laughed at his little joke.

            "So how much did daddy dearest pay you?" Bra asked no amused by 17's sense of humor.

            "55 million." 17 answered truthfully.

            "What? I'm worth a lot more than that! 555 million at least!" Bra cried outraged. 17 couldn't help, but laugh at the princess pride.

            "You look like a greedy scoundrel. If you let me go I'll pay you double what my father is." Bra tried to negotiate her release.

            "And how are you planning to get all that money? You can't possibly have more than a few thousands on you in gold coins and maybe a few thousands more in jewelry." 17 brought up a good point she hadn't thought of.

            "Besides if I fail to complete my mission the King will surely have me killed." 17 responded actually being civil.

            "Now I defiantly have to escape and make sure I'm there for you're execution. In fact I want to be the one to pull the guillotine lever." Bra said meanly.

            "Don't hold your breath princess." 17 advised stopping at a clearing.

            "Now what?" Bra demanded impatiently.

            "Now we stop and make camp. It'll be night soon." 17 explained helping Bra off the horse.

            "What? Here? No way! I'm the princess! I don't sleep outside!" Bra protested, but to no avail. This was one fight she could not win……

            "I can believe I've been made to camp out like some commoner by this inferior creature." Bra thought out loud looking over at 17 sleeping next to her. The rope that bound her hands together was tied around his belt so she could try to escape without waking him up.

            "Why me?" Bra asked the heavens as she turned away from 17 in disgust and watched the campfire burn.

            "I might not be able to escape while 17's alive, but if he's dead it'd be easy." Bra smirked grabbing a near by torch looking branch and putting it in the dancing flame catching it on fire. 

As silent as a professional assassin Bra walked over to the sleeping bounty hunter and held the torch to him.

Authors Note- Would Bra really kill 17?


	10. More Trouble

The dancing flames reflected in Bra's eyes making it look like her eyes were on fire as she lowered the torch to the sleeping bounty hunter.

            "You know if you were really smart you would of tied me up first." 17 smirked grabbing Bra's wrist and pushing the torch away from himself as he stood up.

            "Grrr!" Bra screamed in anger as she tried to set 17 on fire anyways. 

            "A true assassin keeps their cool. They're calculated and ruthless." 17 explained stealing the torch from Bra like nothing.

            "If I only had my dagger I'd cut your heart out and save it as a trophy." Bra hissed in hatred.

            "Sure you would." 17 laughed putting out the fire and going back to sleep.

            "I swear on my royal title I will escape and make sure you rot in a cold dungeon." Bra vowed staring at the midnight stars before drifting off to sleep only be plagued by nightmares.

            "Silence annoying creatures." Bra mumbled refusing to be awaken by the chirping of happy morning birds, but they continued chirping their song.

            "Good morning sunshine." 17 joked as Bra finally gave up.

            "Go to hell." Bra snapped.

            "Well you're obvious not a morning person." 17 laughed only angering the grumpy princess further, but she held her tongue only because she wasn't fully awake yet.

            "You're just in time for breakfast." 17 informed uncharacteristically good-natured.

            "Funny I don't see a restaurant anywhere." Bra said as she tried dusting the dirt off her dress.

            "You don't need a restaurant when you're traveling with the number one hunter in the land." 17 gloated holding up a spear with the ugliest fish Bra had ever seen on the end of it.

            "Eww!" Bra gagged turning away nauseous. 

            "You have to eat something. I can't have you starving to death." 17 insisted.

            "Aww. I didn't know you cared." Bra said sarcastically knowing the only reason 17 gave a damn about her health was because he wouldn't collect the rest of his reward if he took her back harmed in any way.

            "Come on you got a 15 million dollar down payment, you can afford to take me to a tavern." Bra tried to reason.

            "Like I'd waste my money on that." 17 scoffed cooking the fish he had caught.

            "Well who needs you? I got my own money." Bra crossed her arms.

            "And what good is that going to do you? We're miles away from the nearest town." 17 reminded the stubborn princess as he ate his fish.

            "Oh I hate you! You're a cruel cruel little man!" Bra stomped her foot in frustration.

            "What do you expect I'm a bounty hunter." 17 affirmed finishing his breakfast.

            "I suggest you eat this." 17 repeated handing Bra a cooked fish on a stick.

"We have a long days travel ahead of us. I don't want you fainting on me." 17 informed starting to pack their few supplies.

"I've just converted to be a vegetarian." Bra announced dropping the fish in the mud.

"Have it your way." 17 shrugged tossing an apple at Bra who surprisingly caught it before it hit her on the head.

"Watch where you're aiming!" Bra warned.

"Hey nice catch." 17 complimented lifting Bra onto her horse.

"Huh? Why is he being so nice to me?" Bra wondered.

"For a girl." 17 laughed killing any hopes Bra would actually cooperate with him…….

"Are we there yet?" Bra asked for the millionth time.

"NO!" 17 snapped losing his temper.

"Then when the hell are we going to get there?" Bra asked bored.

"When we get there!" 17 fumed at his wits end.

"One more peep out of you! And I swear I'll throw you over a cliff!" 17 threatened.

"Yea right." Bra laughed knowing they were empty threats.

"Shhh. What was that?" 17 stopped abruptly as a loud roar echoed throughout the forest.

"AH! It's a demon! I'm too gorgeous to die!" Bra screamed hysterically.

Authors Note- What's got Bra so scared?


	11. Worse than a Demon

            "Please Mr. Demon don't eat me! I'm the beautiful Saiyan Princess! Eat him! He's nothing but a low life criminal." Bra implored pointing at 17.

            "Stop screaming! There are no such things as demons." 17 tried to calm down the scared princess.

            "How do I know that? I've never been outside the castle. You could be lying to me in order to sacrifice me to the demon for immortality or dark powers." Bra countered set in her ways of always being right.

"You've been reading one to many fantasy science fiction novels princess." 17 shook his head in disbelief.  
            "Fiction?" Bra puzzled. She didn't understand the meaning of the word since she had been brought up to believe what her parents and teachers told her. Her only role for most of her life was to be elegant, graceful, and proper. She had always rebelled against the system.

"Believe me it their were wish granting demons I wouldn't hesitate a second to offer you to them as a sacrifice." 17 confessed.

"Savage." Bra mumbled shooting a death glare at 17 for his comment.

"Quiet. They'll hear us." 17 whispered.

"Who'll hear us?" Bra asked not lowering her voice.

"I asked you a question peasant!" Bra raised her voice in anger when 17 failed to answer her question.

"Shut up!" 17 ordered pulling Bra off the horse and covering her mouth with his hand to silence her but it was too late.

"Look what we have here bro." A sinister looking man said to another equally unpleasant looking man as they walked out into the clearing.

"Fresh victim." The older man said with a crooked grin.

"Sorry fellows, but I don't have time to deal with the likes of you." 17 declared paying no attention to them.

"Who's the pretty pretty?" The younger man asked noticing Bra.

"Her?" 17 said looking over at the princess.

"Just a worthless servant I'm taking to sell at the slave market." 17 said like it was no big deal.

"What?" Bra exclaimed outraged anyone would call her such horrible names.

"Silence slave or you'll get fifty lashes when we get home." 17 said in a master type of tone pinching Bra's arm in a hope to silence her before she revealed their secret.

"Why I ought to!" Bra fumed ready to kick 17 where it counts for treating her like that, but she didn't get a chance because 17 gaged her and put her back on the horse.

"How much for the spicy kitten?" The older man asked looking at Bra lustfully. The princess tried to scream her father the king would have their heads for this, but her threats came out muffled squeaks.

"I don't think you can afford her." 17 alleged trying to get rid of the men.

"Oh really?" The younger one said pulling out a bag of gold coins. It was obvious these mean were thieves.

"She's not for sale." 17 said a tad more sternly trying to walk past them.

"Oh I get it. She your own personal slave." The older man said with a perverted smile.

"Ehg." Bra gaged at the thought of her and 17 being lovers.

"That's not what I meant." 17 defended starting to lose his patience.

"Then we'll just have to take her by force." The younger man said pulling out a knife.

"Yea lets kill him and take the girl." The older brother agreed pulling out his knife.

"If you want her, you'll have to go through me." 17 declared getting in a fighting stance.

Authors Note- Is 17 protecting Bra because he cares about her or because he cares about getting is reward? 


	12. Bye Bye 17

Bra was shocked at first by 17's brave protective words, but was quickly annoyed when she concluded the only reason 17 was being so protective of her was because she was his ticket to the 55 million dollar reward.

Realizing this Bra began thinking of a way to escape right there and then. She could kick her horse and have it gallop away but with her hands bounded she'd surely be thrown off the horse without being able to hold onto the reins properly. Even if she did mange to ride off without being thrown off the horse then what? She couldn't ride into a town and ask for help, people would ask too many question and become suspicious.

All of this didn't matter because as the princess was busy trying to think of a way to use this opportunity to make her escape it appeared 17 was winning. He had already knocked the older brother out, but the younger brother was the more experience fighter and proved to be more of a challenged for the famous bounty hunter. 

As Bra watched she didn't know who she should be cheering for. On the one hand she hated 17 and wanted to get as far away as possible from him. On the other hand the bandit brothers wanted her for reasons Bra didn't even want to think about. 

As the princess was dreading the worse it seemed the worse was going to happen after all when the young bandit slashed 17 with his knife. The wound must have been serious because 17 cried out in pain and fell to the ground motionless. The perverted look the man gave her made the risk of breaking her neck trying to ride away better than dealing with him.

"Yes!" Bra's mind screamed in relief as 17 stood up and grabbed the bandit before he had a chance to get his hands on her. 

The princess watched in anticipation has 17 turned the bandit around and punched in right in the face sending him flying backwards. Once he was on the ground 17 easily kicked his knife away then picked him up by the shirt and slammed him against the tree knocking him also unconscious.

"Halt! Who's out there?" A commanding voice demanded stopping 17 in his tracks as he walked back to the princess on the horse. Before he even had a chance to respond four lower ranking soldiers appeared.

"What happened here?" The leader asked looking down at the unconscious men then up at 17 and finally the princess still tied up and gagged. It didn't look good for 17, but he tried to talk his way out if anyways.

"You see officers we were own our way to town when these two bandits tried to rob us." 17 partially told the truth helping Bra off her horse then untying her and un-gagging her trying to make it seem normal, but of course it wasn't.

"Why was the young lady tied and gagged?" The solider asked ruling out the possibility she was a servant as 17 tricked the thieves into believing. 

"You see she's my wife and she was misbehaving so I had to tie her up." 17 explained insulting every woman that ever lived or would live. This was one degrading statement Bra as a Princess and more importantly a woman couldn't let pass.

"You macho bastard!" Bra fumed smacking 17 upside the head to the shock of everyone.

"Miss is this man telling the truth? Are you his wife?" The leader was finally able to ask after getting over the shock that a woman would strike a man. Bra took this chance to test her acting skills.

"Oh Mr. Solider!" Bra began to sob.

"This terrible horrible man kidnapped me from my village!" Bra lied breaking into tears.

"What no!" 17 protested, but no one was going to believe him over a beautiful crying girl.

"Arrest this scoundrel!" The captain order the other soldiers who grabbed 17 and began tying him up.

Authors Note – Looks like Bra's finally gotten rid of 17. Or has she?


	13. Covering Up

"Bye bye." Bra waved smirking victorious as 17 was being dragged away by the soldiers. 

            "I'm so sorry miss. I can't imagine the horrible ordeal you've just went through." The captain apologized. Bra really didn't hear him she was too busy savoring her victory of the greatest bounty hunter in the land.

            "Huh?" Bra said her attention finally returning to the solider.

            "I said what is the name of your village? I will be more than happy to escort you back home." The captain repeated.

            "Home?" Bra said softly. The word seemed so foreign to her, as if she never truly had a home to begin with. 

            "Yes. I would be happy to take you home." The soldier offered once again. It was only then that Bra realized why he was being so nice. He was totally checking her out.

Bra had completely forgotten she no long wore her hooded cape to hide her unusual hair color and shield her face from on lookers. 

            Even though it had been snowing gentle for a few days the weather wasn't really cold. Bra no longer wore her hood in fear someone would recognize her because 17 had assured her they wouldn't run into anyone if they stayed far off the main road.

"So much for that theory." Bra laughed to herself.

"Shall we be going? I'm sure you're very anxious to get home." The captain spoke gentlemanly.

"Sorry, but I'm never going back home." Bra stated taking out dagger, which she had manage to steal back from 17 as he was being arrested and stabbed the unsuspecting solider with it.

"Arg." The captain groaned in pain falling to his knees holding onto his gut where he'd been stabbed. Bra knew the wound she had inflicting on him was live threatening but it would immobilizing him for a few hours. Just long enough for Bra to cover her tracks.

The princess knew perfectly well the solider even though he was a captain was too low rank to have ever meet any of the royal family, but more crucial the queen. Because of this lack of knowledge the young solider would never had been able to realize she was the princess.

However, Bra was smarter than to leave it at that. She knew people would ask how he was injured and then when he described his attacker someone was bound to say that sounded like the queen. 

Of course they'd come to the conclusion that the girl that attacked the captin was far too young to be the queen. Then news would get back to the castle of her sighting and the royal family would have no choice, but to admit Princess Bra's disappearance. Bra was aware of the possibility of being recognized and came prepared for such a situation.

Bra pulled out of her corset a small silk pouch that 17 didn't confiscate for the very reason he wouldn't dare search her. The princess open the pouch and looked inside at the red powder, "Forgetful Powder" it was called because it had the effect of making a person forget everything that had happened to them for a least two days. 

Usually the powder was poured onto a persons food or drink to lessen its strength, but since that was out of the question Bra had no other option but to give it to the captain in pure form. 

"Sorry, but I can't allow you to ruin my plans." Bra said out loud feeling a bit guilty as she gave the man the powder, because it would erase his memory of the past week if not longer.

 Once he had taken it Bra quickly got onto her horse and rode away as fast as she could. After riding for what felt like hours the princess pulled back the reins and brought her horse to a jolty halt.

 "Oh no!" Bra gasped horrified.

Authors Note- What could have made Bra stopped so suddenly? 


	14. Lost Princess

"Oh no Firestar!" Bra gasped looking around her.

"We're lost!" Bra cried putting her head down against her horse in despair.

"I want my daddy." Bra whined as the sun began to set…………..

"What is it?" Queen Bulma asked Vegeta when he dropped his silverware at the table suddenly.

"Its Bra." King Vegeta said getting everyone worried.

"What about her?" Queen Bulma asked confused by his outburst.

"I don't know how to explain it, but I have a feeling she's in trouble. I could of sworn I heard her calling out to me." King Vegeta told his family.

"See I told you she was a witch! She's trying to communicate with us thru dark magic!" Trunks exclaimed letting his imagination get the best of him.

"Trunks what have I told you about saying things that will make your father angry?" Bulma spoke up before Vegeta had a chance to scold Trunks.

"However this is a rather peculiar occurrence. Maybe it's a sign that would should alert the kingdom of her disappearance and send the royal army to find her!" Bulma brought up the old argument again.

"No! I told you a million times why that would be a bad move!" King Vegeta responded angrily he was tired of always having to debate his original decision.

"I'd rather look for herself myself!" King Vegeta declared standing up and ordering his horse readied. 

"Vegeta you can't be serious!" Bulma attempted to stop him.

"My daughter needs me!" King Vegeta said, and that was all he needed to say to have everyone back off. They knew better then to stand in the way of the King and helping his little girl………..

"Oh Firestar what are we going to do?" Bra asked never expecting an answer from a horse but said it anyways.

"Because of that ignorant bounty hunter we're miles away from the nearest village and lost!" Bra complained climbing off Firestar.The horse nahed as if he was laughing at the princess comment.

"Okay so technically I was always lost, but at least I stayed on the main road and eventually came across a town." Bra saved face even though she was only talking to a horse.

"What are we ever to do Firestar?" Bra asked petting her horse

"Stupid Mr. I'm the best bounty hunter hunted for our food so we have no supplies." Bra sighed. In respond to his owners distress Firestar nuzzled his head against the princess cheek making her laugh.

"Thanks I needed that." Bra smiled for the first time in days. 

"Come on we better keep going. Maybe fate will shine on us and we'll find a village." Bra said getting back on her horse and riding off in no set direction…..

"It's not use. We've been going around in circles. We might as well camp here." Bra finally gave up getting off her horse. 

"I can't believe I, Princess Bra Briefs Vegeta, would ever be reduced to doing this." Bra stated gathering a few branches and striking a match to start a fire. As soon as she got the fire going Bra felt a presence near. The princess instinctively grabbed one of the fire sticks and used it as a torch to investigate her surroundings.

Bra followed the negative vibes a few steps into the forest then stopped when she noticed a strange shadow looming from behind a tree. The young princess gathered up all her courage and stepped towards the tree to see what was causing the shadow.

"Oh my goodness!" Bra screamed as the light of the fire fell on the person that had been lurking in the shadows watching her the whole time.

Authors Note- Who is it? 17? Or someone worse?


	15. A Friends Betrayl

            "Justin!" Bra exclaimed ecstatic to see one of her few friends from the castle standing in front of her. Justin wasn't just her friend he was also one of the rising royal knights.

            "What are you doing here?" Bra asked as she hugged him tightly. This sort of display of affection wasn't proper between a princess and a knight, but no one was around to witness it. Besides Bra had known Justin all her life.

            "I've been looking for you Princess." Justin answered returning the hug before bowing before her formally.

            "I'm sorry Justin, but I'm not going home. You know very well how miserable I was there." Bra spoke in a sad tone. 

It was true though, Justin knew exactly how unhappy Bra's life in the castle had been growing up, because he had comforted her many times when the pressures of royalty broke her down into tears. 

Justin had started off as a stable boy and one of his most important duties was to prepare the Princess's pony for her. It was during these far-gone years that the two became unlikely friends. Justin was the only one in the castle the same age as the princess and since her older brother never wanted to play with her Bra decided to befriend him.

Justin resisted at first, not because he didn't want to be friend with Bra, but because she was after all the princess. Bra assumed he was just shy but the truth was Justin knew his place in life.  The princess was also aware of this unwritten rule, but was determined to make Justin her friend and what the princess wanted she got.

King Vegeta wasn't so set in the old way to deny his little princess from having a friend even though he was a commoner. Once Justin had permission to speak to and spend time with the princess they became fast friends. Growing up only brought them closer and they became best friends. 

They remained inseparable until Justin turned twelve the age where boys began their training to one day become a knight in the royal army. Princess Bra was thrilled for him, having no idea that this meant their friendship would never be the same. At first it didn't seem that would happen, but as Justin moved up the ranks of solider Bra spent less and less time with him.

Finally the day came when Justin began his training to be a knight. Part of the tough training was to go on dangerous mission. Bra had no idea Justin had been sent on one until Trunks began teasing her that her little boyfriend had left her for battle. Bra was devastated because she knew once Justin became a full fledge knight he would have to serve her and a friendship between them was impossible.

In fact the next time Bra even saw him was months later at the annual ceremony to knight the newest recruits. It was very difficult for Bra to stand before her childhood best friend and look down at him as just another servant, so difficult she left the after party early for fear of losing it and crying before everyone. 

"I'm not here to take you back to that prison of a home to marry Goten." Justin assured the princess. 

"Oh Justin I knew you wouldn't betray me! We can runaway together and be best friends again!" Bra smiled throwing her arms around who she thought was her savior and gave him another hug. 

"I'm here to kidnap you in order to someday become king by marrying you and becoming a prince." Justin revealed his plan making Bra pull away from him, a look of absolute disbelief on her beautiful face. 

Authors Note – Looks like everyone's after Bra for their own personal advantage. How is she going to get out of this one?


	16. A Heros Welcome

"What? You can't possibly mean that." Bra shook her head wanting to make the terrible words she just heard fall out of her head.

"It's the perfect full proof plan to climb out of the low ranks of a knight and become a royal." Justin stated proudly.

"I can't believe a person can change so drastically. How could my best friend have done a 180 and become so power hungry?" Bra asked hoping for a good explanation.

"Its easy for someone born into ultimate power to not understand how hard it is for the average person." Justin said bitterly.

"I thought we were friends." Bra said sadden by what he was saying.

"We were. Until the day I final woke up from our little dreamland of fun and happiness and found my self in the real world. A world where I would always be just another solider." Justin said his voice filled with resentment.

 By this time Bra was holding back tears, her heart hurting because the one person she thought was her true friend was now stabbing her in the back.

"Oh, don't cry princess. Surely someone as smart as you can understand I had to do this. You running away was exactly the opportunity I was waiting for to change my life." Justin said more taunting then comforting. 

"I can not believe someone I looked at like a brother would use me and the privileges marrying me would bring him to someday become king." Bra murmured her anger slowly replacing her disappointment and hurt.

"Oh don't fret princess. I'm not just marrying you for your title." Justin smiled slyly looking at her with desire in his eyes. Bra felt sick as her former friend reached out to her.

"Don't touch me!" Bra snapped slapping Justin hand from her face.

"You have not authority out here to be giving me orders princess, so I suggest you play nice before you're future husband losses patience." Justin stated moving in to kiss her. Before he had a chance to kiss her Bra punched him in the face, a moved she learned from physically fighting with Trunks when they were little.

As Justin recovered from the shock of being punched by the princess, Bra ran back to her camp to get on her horse to escape.

"Not so fast!" Justin growled grabbing Bra from behind and dragging her back into the forest away from safety.

"Hands off peasant!" Bra kicked and screams, but her insulted only caused Justin to hold her tighter out of anger. Then all of a sudden there was a loud crashing sound and Bra fell to the ground once Justin grip on her was released.

Bra looked up trying to see what had happen to make Justin let her go, but it was too dark her torch had long been extinguish. She could, however hear perfectly clear what she knew was a fight. Bra wasn't about to wait to see who had come to her rescue because for all she knew it was some one with worse intentions than Justin.

"Ah!" Bra cried out in pain as she tried to get up and found that her ankle had been severely sprained.  The princess was too consumed with pain to notice the fight was over and whoever had won was now approaching her slowly.

Bra didn't even feel the person helping her until they picked her up in their arms and began carrying her back to the camp.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see you again!" Bra said finally looking up at her knight in shinning armors face and found herself staring at 17's crystal blue eyes. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly truly grateful to be in his arms at that very moment.

Authors Note – Could Bra be falling for her captor 17? *looks around then busts up laughing * 


	17. Deadly Escape

            "An awful warm home coming from the person that had me arrested don't you think?" 17 asked not returning the hug put keeping his eyes straight ahead of him.

            "Umm." Bra didn't know what to say, but she wasn't naïve enough to have thought 17 would be anything else, but mad at the mess she got him into. She kept pondering what to say as 17 walked her back to the camp and put her down near the fire.

            "Now lets see." 17 said as he pulled up the hem of Bra's dress.

            "AH!" Bra screamed slapping 17.

            "I'm not being an hentai I just want to see if your ankles broken." 17 explained rubbing his burning cheek Bra had slapped. 

            "Oh." Bra quieted down letting him examine her hurt ankle.

            "Its not broken, but it his badly sprained. We're going to have to go into town tomorrow to get some medicine to bring down the swelling." 17 gave his diagnosis. Bra simply nodded as 17 wrapped up her ankle with his cloth sash and then fell asleep for it had been a chaotic day………..

"Come on princess time to wake up and rule your people." 17 said sarcastically shaking the sleeping girl.

"No I don't wanna." Bra pouted refusing to wake up.

"Have it your way." 17 shrugged throwing water on the sleeping beauty's face.

"Ahh!" Bra screamed coughing trying to grasp what  hit her.

"My hair!" Bra began telling off 17 who drowned out her screaming and just picked her up and put her on her horse, not bothering to tie her up since the town was only a few miles away and he would only have to untie her when they got there.

When they arrived at the town Bra started complaining her throat hurt. 17 rolled his eyes blaming her for it since she was the one that screamed at him all the way there wearing out her voice.

"You better not trying anything or I swear I won't be as forgiving as last time." 17 warned helping Bra off the horse and leading her into the weapons slash items shop by the arm. 

As they enter the small building Bra quickly noticed a good-looking young adventure staring at her. The scheming princess quickly got an idea on how to escape. She waited until 17 left her side to go order her medicine then walked over and started flirting with the cute adventurer.

Bra smirked as she saw 17 storming over to them furious once he had bought the herbs they came for. Just as she predicted 17 went into a fit yelling at Bra for wondering off when he specifically told her to stay put.

"You shouldn't yell at a lady that way." The adventurer defended Bra.

"Stay out of it." 17 snapped grabbing Bra roughly by the arm and pulled her outside. Right on cue the adventurer followed them and began arguing with 17. 

"Boys." Bra smirked as the arguing quickly turned into a physical brawl. With 17 busy in a fight he appeared to be losing Bra ran to her horse and go on riding away as fast as possible…… 

"Damnit!" Bra cursed looking behind her to see 17 chasing after her on a horse he undoubtedly stole.

"Come on Firestar faster!" Bra encouraged holding onto to reins tightly as her horse took on more speed, but no matter how much she went faster 17 stayed closely behind.

Bra tried to loose 17 in the forest my making a series of sharp pro rider turns confident she was a higher skilled rider then him. Unfortunately it wasn't so, 17 imitated every one of Bra's moves on horseback. 

"Oh no!" Bra gasped as she neared a frozen lake. It had been snowing the past couple of days, but she didn't expect the entire river to be frozen. Bra knew in the back of her head that she couldn't turn back or stop in fear that the ice wasn't strong enough.

Without slowing down Bra commanded her horse to cross the frozen river. She was half way across the river before the dooming cracking noises began.

"NO!" 17 yelled from the riverbank as he watch the horse struggle to stop from sinking into the ice, but it was no use. 17 couldn't do anything but watch in horror as Bra fell into the ice cold water.

Authors Note -  Looks like the stubborn princess gotten herself in a major problem. Can 17 save her?


	18. Ice Disaster

            17 watched the whole tragic scene unfold before his eyes in slow motion. He was too stunned to move when he heard the ice crack and break apart under Bra's horse. The princess's ear piercing screams of terror would hunt his dreams. Unbeknown to him, 17 would live with the guilt that the princess almost died because of him. The bounty hunter remained paralyzed as Bra's horse sank into the ice water taking the princess with him.  

            Snapping back into reality 17 ran unto the ice without any fear of his own safety. At that very moment the only thing important in the world was to get Bra out of the water before she drowned or froze to death. In a heart beat 17 was out in the middle of the frozen river looking over the edge at the cold unforgiving water. It didn't take long for the bounty hunters trained eyes to find Bra at the bottom of the riverbank. 

"Damnit!" 17 cursed. The princess was too far for him to reach. He couldn't simply grab her and pull her out. It appeared the only way to save her was to dive in and swim her out. 17 was strong, but even his body could not survive the below freezing temperature of the river. There was a slim possibility he could dive in, grab the princess, and swim her out before the affects of the ice water numbed his body and claimed his life too.

17 was about to jump into the water, because for every second he hesitated trying to think of a plan was a second Princess Bra's life held in the balance when he noticed a nearby fallen tree and a full proof plan came to him. 

In a hurry 17 took out the rope he had been using to tie up Bra and tied the end of it into a loop making a lasso. With the skill of an old western cowboy 17 swung the lasso over his head and tossed it over the branch of the fallen tree in one try. He pulled at the rope with all his strength to make sure the branch would not snap leaving him trapped under water costing both their lives.

With the rope secure 17 wasted no time diving in to save the princess. He swam to the bottom of the river where the unconscious princess awaited her long hair flowing all around her making her look like a mermaid. 17 quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. The unlikely hero wrapped his arm around Bra's waist and began the difficult task of getting to the surface.

The ice cold water didn't take long to cast its spell of numbness on 17, making it extremely hard to hold on to the rope let alone pull himself and the princess up to the surface. It took all his inner strength, but 17 finally made it to the surface with Bra. 

"Ah!" 17 gasped for air kneeling down near the edge with the princess laying before him out cold. It was clear she wasn't breathing but 17 leaned over and put his ear to her chest to check for a heartbeat. 

"She's still alive." 17 sighed in relief hearing a very faint and weak heartbeat. There was no telling how much water the princess had swallowed or how long she had gone without breathing. Before noticing the princess was starting to come around 17 leaned over her to administer mouth to mouth. 

"Huh?" Bra thought as she slowly opened her eyes and say a blurry figure over her face. Once her vision came into focus Bra recognized the person who seemed to her about to kiss her.

"AH!" Bra screamed slapping 17 hard. 

"I was going to give you CPR!" 17 defended holding his burning cheek. (hehehe total Sango Miroku moment ^-~ )

"Yea right." Bra coughed weakly trying to get up. As 17 picked Bra up in his arms the princess slipped out of conscious again. 17 could tell her body was completely drained of energy and if he didn't get her warmed up right away she could catch ammonia. 

Authors Note- sorry for the delay I accidentally saved over my fic and lost 2 chapters. I hope this is better than the original one. 


	19. Unless you Dream they're not

            17 started carrying Bra to a near by cave he had discovered before. There he could build a fire and nurse the princess back to health. He only wished the horse he had stolen had not ran away, it would have made everything a whole lot easier. Now he had to carry the princess to the cave which was a little over a mile away.

            "Finally." 17 declared as the cave's entrance came to view over a steep hill. Climbing up the hill with the unconscious princess in his arms drained the last of the bounty hunter's strength.

            With the sun still out 17 walked to the very back of the cave as far away from the entrance and the cold as possible. He gently laid Bra down and took off his now dried jacket and placed it over her like a blanket, then walked back out the cave to look for some firewood.

            Once he had collected enough wood 17 walked back to the cave to start a fire. He half hoped to find Bra awake and complaining about being left in a dirty cave, but instead he found the princess just how he had left her.

            That is the condition the princess remained in for the next couple of days. 17 watched over her every minute and only left her to hunt food for himself and gather herbs to make remedies that might assistance in a faster recovery.

            Bra slipped in and out of conscious several times, however she never woke up. 17 realized this one night when the princess began talking in her sleep. 

            "No! I don't want to marry Goten! You can't make me!" Bra mumbled in her sleep. 17 knew the main reason Bra ran away from the castle was to avoid marrying Goten, but he had no clue of what the princess was  unknowingly going to reveal in her sleep talking. 

            17 felt no guilt for in his mind listening to the princess talking in her sleep was not eavesdropping. In fact it proved to be a good thing for it changed 17's perspective on the princess completely. Never in a million years would the bounty hunter imagine a princess life was anything, but full or riches, power and consequently happiness.

            Listening to Bra's midnight confessions painted a totally different picture of royalty life. A picture of being controlled by others, having no say in anything concerning your life, and being alone even though you were constantly surrounded by countless people who supposedly served you. 

            The most startling revelation about the princess was unmasked when 17 discovered her little purple book, which she kept in a small purple silk bag tied to her dress. Without fear of being found out 17 took the book and read in it some of the princess most personal thoughts and feelings expressed through songs. The book Bra carried everyone with her contained the song lyrics she had composed over the years.

            17 couldn't helped, but be moved by the sadness in some of the songs and yet the strength of a survivor and fighter in others. One line in particular tugged at 17's heart.

            "In your dreams, magical thoughts. All things are real unless your dream they're not. In your dreams love is the thought carried on wings of hope. (Lunar Silver Star Story Opening theme)" 17 read out loud. 

The professional hunter stayed seated with Bra's booklet in his hands thinking over those lyrics. After about an hour of soul searching 17 came to a startling conclusion. He now knew exactly what he had to do even if it cost him his life……

            "Owwie." Bra groaned in pain as she slowly opened her for the first time in days. The bright light was blinding and hurt her head adding to the excruciating pain she felt all over her body. Bra managed to sit up into a more comfortable position as her vision gradually came into focus.

            "NNNNOOOO!" Bra screamed at the top of her lungs as she looked around and recognized the rich expensive furniture that decorated her bedroom chambers.

Authors Note- Is Bra hallucinating? If she isn't how did she get back to the castle?


	20. Queen to Be

"No! I can't be! It's just not possible!" Bra kept repeating to herself over and over again, while closing her eyes praying that when she opened them she'd be anywhere, but back home. 

            "Damnit!" Bra cursed every time she reopened her eyes and found herself in the last place on earth she ever wanted to return to.

            "Okay so this is a very realistic dream. No big deal I'll play along." Bra said to herself a she threw the bed covers off herself and got out of bed.

            "Ah!" Bra shrieked as her body gave way and she fell to the floor hard.

            "Wait a minute. You're not supposed to feel pain or anything in a dream." Bra began worrying the second she felt the pain of the fall thru her body and the coldness of the marble floor on her hands and body.

            "That means…" Bra began, but didn't dare continue for fear of admitting she possibly wasn't dreaming. The princess would rather stay in denial, but she knew she had to figure out what was going out for herself.

            Once she'd gathered enough strength to get up, Bra ran to the door, threw it open and froze dead in her tracks when she saw the same knights that had guarded her room since she was five. 

            Not addressing their bows of welcoming or their question on her health Bra took off down the hall straight to her father's chamber. Bra was about to walk in without knocking since she could get away with it when an unmistakable voice coming from inside stopped her.

            "Omg. 17!" Bra whispered, as she couldn't help panicking.

            "Oh no! He was going to help me avoiding being forced to come back here. I heard him one night swearing never to bring be back." Bra whispered out loud recalling one of the nights she had been ill.

 She had temporarily regained conscious and overheard 17 declaring he couldn't complete his mission. That after realizing how miserable Bra's life had been as a princess he wouldn't condemn her back to that hellhole. 

            "Oh no they must of found us and arrested 17 for conspiring with me and now daddy's cursing him out before having him executed!" Bra gasped determined to run in there and pull a Pocahontas to save him, when her fathers voice stopped her.

            "Here you are 17, the rest of your 55 million dollar payment as promised with my gratitude for bringing home my daughter." King Vegeta said from inside the room.

            "That traitor!" Bra gasped stepping away from the door in pure anger. The princess had never been so furious in her life. Being forced to live in captivity and being forced to marry Goten didn't compare the fury that was raging inside her at that very moment.

            "How could I have been so stupid?" Bra asked cursing herself forever believing 17 could have a soul or any sort of compassion and actually mean it when he said he wouldn't take her back home. 

            Millions of thoughts of revenge speed a million miles per hour in Bra's head. The princess wanted nothing less than destroying his life. Killing him would be to fast and easy, she wanted to ruin his life. 

"I'll make 17 regret the day he ever became a bounty hunter and crossed path with the one and only Saiyan Princess." Bra smirked walking down the hall with her head held high to her mother's room.

"Bra!" Queen Bulma exclaimed rushing over to her daughter and hugging her tightly.

"I'm so glad you've final woken and are safely back home where we can protect you." Bulma practically cried still hugging the princess.

"How long would it take you and the royal staff to organize and throw a wedding?" Bra asked not returning the hug.

"Huh? What?" Bulma pulled away to look at her daughter's face curious why on earth that question would be the first thing Bra said to her own mother after being away for so long.

"Why do you ask such a thing? Are you still running a fever?" Bulma asked concerned trying to feel Bra's forehead.

"A less extravagant wedding then last time. How long would that take?" Bra made her question clearer as she brushed her mothers hand away from her face.

"Umm. Two weeks at the most." Bulma answered, but before she could interrogate or examine her, Bra made a shocking announcement.

            "Then commence the preparations immediately, for I will marry Goten in two weeks." Bra recited unemotional before leaving her stunned mother and return to her room.

            One might ask why Princess Bra would do the one thing she worked so hard to avoid. The answer is quiet simple. Completely obvious if you understood the way the corrupt world worked, and Bra had lived long enough to know how it did.

            To make 17's live a living hell like she desperately wanted to Bra would need unrivaled power over everything and everyone. To get the unrivaled power Bra would have to become Queen.

Authors Note- Looks like Bra's finally bought into that saying "Forget Princess. I want to be Queen." 


	21. Destiny

            Bra was still raging after leaving her mothers room she didn't notice 17 stepping out of her father's office.

            "Bra." 17 exclaimed surprised.

            "I'm so glad you're well." 17 said with a smile that most would have considered genuine, but the princess was only seeing red.

            "You lying bastard!" Bra fumed slapping 17 with all her anger and hate. The experienced bounty hunter was in total shock. He had never been slapped before by a woman and to his astonishment it actually hurt. (hehehe girl power!)

            "I can't believe I ever believed you!" Bra glared at 17 who was holding his burning cheek speechless.

            "It makes me ill to think for one brief second I actually lowered my defenses and allowed myself to believe you were on my side." Bra said her voice full of venom. If looks could kill 17 would of dropped over death that very instant.

            "What are you talking about?" 17 finally managed to ask completely confused.

            "Like you don't know" Bra laughed a cold menacing laugh that 17 had never heard or thought her capable of.

            "I over heard you one night." Bra began after no response from the confused bounty hunter.

            "I heard all your lies. Including the false promise of fighting to secure my freedom." Bra spoke softly but threateningly.

            "Don't worry 17 I don't hold it against you. I'm a very intelligent Princess. I understand man's greed." Bra continued her assault of words.

            "But I.." 17 started to defend his actions when Bra slapped him again even harder.

            "Silence peasant!" Bra order the feeling of superiority and royalty unmistakably noticeable in her voice. 

The princess had spoken down to the bounty before many times during their turbulent time together, but never in such a matter that sent chills down 17's spin. It was clear he wasn't dealing with the same person who had changed him so dramatically in such a short about of time.

            17 wanted so bad to correct the horrible misunderstanding, but before he had the chance Bra thanked him, then made his entire world crash before him with five simple words.

            "I'm going to marry Goten." Bra stated looking into 17 eyes with cold emotionless ones. Those words stabbed 17 in the heart like frozen daggers. By the time he recovered from the blow Princess Bra was gone. Possibly forever……………….

            "Never in a million years." Bra thought to herself as she stood in front of her full-length mirror in an elegant sparkling white wedding dress.

            "I can't believe I'm about to get married." Bra declared fixing the silver diamond crown that held her veil. Even though the princess swore she was never going to get married, and the only reason she was doing it was to someday become queen by overthrowing her brother she couldn't help loving the way she looked.

            Princess Bra's wedding dress was the most glamorous dress ever made in the kingdom. It was made entirely by the finest silk in the land with a corset top embroidered by one-karat diamonds.

            "Come in." Bra answered the knock on her door thinking it was  her mother stopping by to give her the marriage speech or something trivial like that. 

            "Daddy!" Bra exclaimed surprised he came to her room to see her when they were going to meet in the grand hall in front of the royal chapel where the proud king was to walk his only daughter down the aisle.

            "Is something wrong?" Bra asked walking over to her father. Though she had initially been furious at him for hiring 17 to find her and bring her home after a few days of she realized he only did it because he loved her so much and forgave him.

            "No, but there is something crucial I most tell you before you make the biggest mistake of your life." King Vegeta said seriously. Before Bra could question what he meant by saying she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life Vegeta said what he came to say.

            "He didn't take the money." Vegeta told his daughter. The king didn't have to specify anything, the princess immediately knew who and what he was referring to. As Bra stood there letting the news sink into her, Vegeta quietly walked out of the room.

            "Follow your heart princess" King Vegeta encouraged silently…….

            "Do you Son Goten take Princess Bra Vegeta to be your lawful wedded wife?" The archbishop of the kingdom asked the young man standing at the alter.

            "I do." Goten smiled.

            "And do you Princess Bra take Goten to be your lawful wedded husband?" The archbishop asked turning to the young woman who liked like her mind was a million miles away.

            Bra had been debating what to do with the information her dad had given her since the moment she had received it. Now her time was up. The answer she would give the priest would determine the rest of her life.

            "I can't." Bra finally answered after the longest minute in the history of time. The gasps of shock rang thru the princess head as she ran out of church.

            "Someone stop her!" Queen Bulma ordered looking over at her husband who appeared to be smiling!

            "I never thought one day I'd encourage my little princess to go after a bounty hunter." King Vegeta laughed to himself amused……………

            "Give me another shot." 17 told the bartender as leaned over the counter half drunk.

            "No I think you've had enough." The bartender said moving the bottle of vodka away from the bounty hunter.

            "Don't tell me what to do! Do you have any idea who I am?!" 17 stood up slamming the shot glass on the counter so hard he shattered it. 

            "No. But I do." A familiar voice whispered into his ear the same words he had once whispered to her the first they meet.

            "Haha very funny." 17 turned around to see Princess Bra standing in front of in her wedding dress.

            "Come to bitch me out one more time before heading off on your honeymoon with Goten?" 17 asked coldly.

            "Actually no." Bra answered keeping her cool for the moment.

            "I'm here to confirm something my dad told me." Bra responded to the look of indifference 17 gave her.

            "Which is?" 17 asked trying to sound bored.

            "Did you or didn't you take the reward money?" Bra asked a question who's answer determined her and 17's destiny.

            "Did you or didn't you take the reward money?" Bra raised her voice when 17 looked down at the floor to avoid answering.

            "No." 17 finally answered barely above a whisper.

            "Then why did you take me back if not for the money?" Bra demanded trying to understand.

            "Because if I hadn't you would have died!" 17 confessed looking up at the princess.

            "What?" Bra gasped.

            "I meant what I said. I wasn't planning to complete my mission after listening to your sleep talking confessions, but then your condition worsen. I had to take you back home for medical treatment or you would die." 17 gave Bra his explanation.

            "Why didn't you tell me that!" Bra demanded.

            "You didn't give me a chance! You were to furious you wouldn't have believed a word I said!" 17 fought back.

            "I thought it would be best if you married Goten thinking I had betrayed you and you lived the rest of your life hating me." 17 admitted.

            "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Bra exclaimed before going into a screaming fit.

            For once in his life 17 let his emotions take over him and with force he grabbed Bra, pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. 

            "That settles it then." Bra said after the kiss. Before 17 she start ripping at her wedding dress.

            "What are you doing?" 17 asked.

            "I can't go on adventures with you in a wedding dress." Bra informed smiling.

            "We'll have to get me some adventure clothes before taking off." Bra told 17.

            "Yes Princess." 17 smiled back and Princess Bra kissed him.

The End*

* Not for anyone that has reviewed every chapter. Those loyal fans get an exclusive alternate ending e-mailed to them. If anyone who's been reading this fic but hasn't been reviewing can still get the bonus chapter by reviewing every chapter and e-mailing me. This bonus fic is a thank you too all the readers who love this fic.


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